OK, its 2006 |
January 9th, 2006 |
Just call me bear, all my friends
do.Thinking about 2006.... 2005 was a busy long hard year.
Acutally thought about packing it as the director of the
Food Bank here in Kansai Japan. The budget is painful and
the hours are long, and I have to work a real bill paying
job to boot. But I got a letter from one of our ophanages
that helps abused kids.
The director just wanted to thank us for food and smiles
we passed on last year. I went to see him and he shared how
even though they get some funding from the feds, its not
enough to give the kids any kind of head start into the word
when they get 18. He hates it every year when they graduate,
cause they go out, no family, no support group, no allowance
from dad, to face a hard world on their own. He really wants
to do more, to provide more education and ops for his kids...
But he says without our help there is nothing extra.... Do
you think I could look him in the eye and tell him I was
too tired to help? I smiled and told him we were looking
forward to helping again this year. To tell the truth, I'm
not so tired now, got a genki feeling back, and I am looking
forward to dropping off a truck of food there soon. Maybe
you might want to help? You dont have to know Japanese, just
need some people with a heart. Of course it would be nice
if you could drive, teach english to some of our staff, put
stuff in boxes, buy a bag or rice or have your company send
a truckload of muffins etc. Gonna be a great year, I can
just feel it,
bear |
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| Merry Christmas |
December 20th, 2005 |
Thought I would take all the kids up to the onsen hotel where I do weddings with me for the weekend as a christmas present and bonding time,cause there will be not much under the Christmas tree this year...Well, during the biggest blizzard in years slogging through the mountains....The car blows up. A total loss .... thank God it was on the way home after my weddings. Caston turned to me with tears in his eyes and said, "Dad, we gave out 30 tons of food this year, and spend so much time helping everyone else.... where is our help? This year has been so hard"....I told him that it is not recognition that validates a man, it is his character and who he is before God and that made us rich, and I wrapped him in my coat. Got the Japanese Auto Federation man to come. But not before caston slogging several kilos through the blinding snow to get to a phone, cause they killed my cell phone cause I was late just that morning... on a Sunday... couldnt wait till monday...
The guy towed the car to a place they said they would not hassle me till I figured out what to do with it. Caston and I rode in the car cause there was no room in the cab beyond the girls. We got the car stashed, left the key in the ignition, set for disposal, but no ride to the station. Bags n all we all slogged through the blinding blowing snow and a foot of fresh slush. Caston with Hana on his back, me looking like a walking igloo with the snow caked to the bags strapped all about me. Only about 3 miles there, gotta tell ya though it seemed like eternity and I thought my purple fingers would surly break as I tried to straighten em after. Would have called a taxi but all I had was my last 20 bucks in my pocket. And we were 130miles from Kyoto. And about 150 bucks in train fares.Got buck and a half tickets so we could get on and spent about 8 hours hopping locals to locals hoping no one would ask for my tickets. Made it to the closest JR station to our house on the next to the last train, told the guy I came from 2 stations away and lost my tickets and gave him a wink. He said to pay him 8 bucks and we caught a taxi home.
The taxi just made it to the bridge before the dough ran out. Last 1 mile walk, just cold, no snow, so glad to have the house in sight. Pulled in just past midnight. Our intern had gone for christmas but left the nicest thank you note for his time with us. And the last line read... By the way, the kerosene is gone to the drop. No heater tonite guys....We all snuggled down in dads bed to keep warm, and how thankful I was to be there, with my kids. The next day one of our staff spotted me 20 bucks and I took my girls to Osaka and they recorded some readings and we made almost 200 bucks. We got some 1dollar cheese burgers and meandered home on the train. At last, kerosene was ours for the taking, and a big steaming pot of beans soon followed. I told the girls how we would use the money to pay the water bill and squeak by till dad got payed. And they felt like heros. And I realized that my kids were just that. Heros for a new generation. Cant buy that at disney land. And santa couldnt fit it in his bag. I am blessed, beyond my imaginations.
Have a merry Christmas,
Barry Wyatt
Director
Kozmoz International |
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Thanksgiving
It's Thanksgiving in America, it is labor day in Japan.
What is it where you are? This is the first year that we will not roast a turkey in 22 years. The last time was because I was a vegetarian and we roasted a pumpkin instead. It was miserable, we ruined perfectly good stuffing, but in our youth we were excited. Today, one of our Japanese staff asked me what thanksgiving is all about, and I had to stop and think. It is good to stop and think sometimes. The days go by so quick, and we are so bound and determine to meet deadlines and our goals that sometimes we forget to stop and think about what we do, why we do it, who we are, and who we are to the people around us. 17 years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. 17 years ago my doctor told me to go home and tell my loved ones and family that I loved them because he could not be sure how long I would live. I had emergency surgery, I had radiation therapy, there were many prayers, and I am still alive. I am a father. I am the vision to my children of what it means to be an adult. I am thankful for the opportunity. The work is hard, and everyday my eyes force themselves closed long before I want them to. I push myself relentlessly to do more and be more effective. I love my work. I love my children. I love my staff. I love my life. Today, I am thankful. I pray that you are as well.
Principles and Creed
I had a question from a visitor about the About
Us page.
That is a statement about our principles and creed.
I think that people are more important than politics.
Of course, international politics are complex and there are many
causes that bring about conflict.
What I do know is that if a group of people can put faces to
issues, conflicts can be more easily solved.
Because it takes away the power of people to say " those
xxxxxx are all yyyyyy"
Of course there are many nationalities, and it is normal to have
pride in your country.
But my point about the Chinese boy is not about Chinese.
It is about a person who sees individual Japanese people as all
being the same.
Just like many Japanese people see Chinese as all the same.
He has never had a relationship with a Japanese.
And he can not see that individuals have individual ideas and
hopes and dreams.
Just like him.
If he knew my great friends like Chieko, Miho, Nabe etc.
He would think different.
That does not mean to say there are not bad Japanese.
Of course there are. I have met many.
But if we can create enough bridges between enough people.
Then someday when someone wants to start a war or conflict.
And says "Those Japanese/Chinese/Koreans..etc. are the problem
because they....."
If we have relationships and we know that there are individuals
with individual thoughts,
Then we can say " That is not true, some are like that but
not all!"
Truth will bring freedom.
That is the point of having cultural programs.
Not so Americans can go to a temple and say "oooohh and
ahhhhhhh"
Or Disney can build theme parks in Japan.
It is true that some Japanese people have trouble reconciling
the past.
And some do not know clearly about the past.
Of course there are lots of Americans that don't know their own
history as well.
And that is a problem I hope we can overcome with our staff.
Some Americans have done very, very terrible things in the past.
But I will not ignore them, it is important for me to understand
it and admit it.
That gives me pride.
Because I also understand the great things that my ancestors
have done.
Japanese people can have pride too.
But people that can not admit the truth of the past will never
have true pride.
They will just be noise makers.
I have pride in who I am because I know that I am a good man
with good goals.
I hope that someday all of our staff can have pride in who they
are.
And we can all talk honest about the past so we do not make the
same mistakes in the future.
That helps make a relationship strong because they can not hide
things.
If we as people can be honest with each other.
We will have strong and meaningful relationships.
That is my goal in all we do.
Barry
Merry Christmas from Kyoto
The weather has turned cold here and the faint smell of kerosene wafts
through the halls of our large old Japanese house. Being used to
central home heating as an American, it bothered me at first to
use numerous kerosene fan heaters spread throughout our house when
I first came to Japan 8 years ago because I was not used to the
inconvenience or odor. Funny how time changes as now, every fall,
I gleefully take the heaters out of storage, clean them and fire
them up for the first time. That once offensive odor now conjures
up warm feelings and images of my children scampering to the tree
each Christmas morning to find out what Santa has brought them....
And yes, Santa comes to Japan even without chimneys!
Now that our Christmas Party is over things have slowed down a bit
and soon even I will have a few days off to enjoy the precious
gifts that God has bestowed upon me. Of course every year is busy,
busy with meeting our organizational goals, exchanging culture,
and helping alleviate as many social ills as time allows us. But
this time is important to me, because I can reflect over the past
year, plan for the future year and spend time with my kids. This
always reminds me why I left the business world to leave a more
meaningful inheritance for my children.
As I have begun to reflect, I could not help but think how complacent
we as people become as we lead our busy lives throughout the year.
And how we forget to marvel at the truly amazing things that occur
around us. Just as the kerosene becomes part of the background
of my winter life, and I ignore all the health and safety hazards,
even creating a certain fondness, so we begin to take comfort in
the complacency that comes with the incessant hustle and bustle
of work, play, getting to the kid's soccer games, concerts and
marathons. In Japan, we have "bonenkai" this time of
year. It is literally a party to forget the year. I think this
kind of thing helps fosters his complacency as we tend to want
to forget this year and get after the new year. Though this year
has been one of the most challenging of my life, I certainly don't
want to forget it. I want to reflect on it and grow from the experiences,
failures and successes for the future.
This year saw the birth of our new social outreach, "Second Harvest
Kansai" in March. Working in conjunction with Second Harvest Japan
(formally "Food Bank Japan") and my great friend and mentor
Charles McJiltion we managed to negotiate for, receive, and distribute
aprox. $500,000 US worth of foodstuffs to needy individuals and organizations
in the Kansai area of Japan. After talking with some of our staff,
I realized how we have become busy with meeting organizational and
personal goals and leading busy, busy lives that we may have failed
to marvel at what an amazing thing we were able to accomplish working
as a team. Each person doing many different, seemingly unconnected
things have created something much greater than the sum of its parts.
Of course each of us has handled different tasks and put in different
amounts of time but in the end, approximately 20 volunteer staff, working
an average of 40 hours for the year managed to acquire and distribute
that many tons of food. Individually what could we have accomplished?
Maybe $500 per person in charitable giving for the year? Compare $10,000
to $500,000 and you can see the synergy of working as a team with a
common goal.
To understand why I think it is amazing, lets think about the math.
$500,000 man yen divided by 20 staff members means that the value
of each staff membes efforts for the year averaged aprox $20,000
or aproximately 500 dollars of relief per volunteer man hour. That
is amazing and we need realize how amazing it is! Working as a
team, having solid goals, and having a core of people dedicated
to achieving those goals, has produced a great harvest for the
year 2005. I think that part of the reason for the complacency
is that sometimes our motivations get obscured by the routine nature
of our tasks. Everyone that helped contributed equally vital parts
of our growth. But I am sure that when teaching a child Kanji,
or passing our flyers, or cleaning up after an event, it is easy
to focus on the task at hand and forget what we are working together
to achieve. Perhaps more of our staff need to have the opportunity
to see the toothless smile of gratitude of a hungry grandma upon
receiving a warm meal, seeing tears of gratitude from someone who
has never been had anything more than a dirt floor to sleep on
when they receive the keys to a new home, or the witness the smiles
of children receiving the first Christmas present of their life.
I think that these kinds of experiences can help us realize the
responsibility we have to the less fortunate. And I think it can
help us appreciate the weight of our activities. I hope as our
activities continue to expand that you will have more of these
opportunities over the coming year.
One of my prayers for 2005 is that I can see more through the eyes
of a child, that I can feel free to be amazed by the things around
me that are truly amazing that we often take for granted. I hope
you will join me.
Barry K. Wyatt
International Director
Please E-m@il comments or questions to Barry Wyatt
Now I would like to thank our wonder staff and helpers for the year
2005. You are our foundation and hope for the future.
Fujita Naoko
Tomomi
Toshi
Fukui Akiko
Aki
Shunsuke
Erika
Eri Inoue
Sayruri Tomimura
Masako Terada
Tomoko Kitagawa
Keiko Shiraya
Yukari Nakai
Akifumi Nanbu
Kanami Kobayashi
Hirotake Yamanouchi
Kalisha Donnely
Sean Cooper
Torigoe Tsunemitsu
George Gregory
Minako seta
Tomomi serizawa
isaac okenloye
Donna Wyatt
Brett Wyatt
Grandma Katy
Junko Nabetani
Mallory Jenkins
Robert Linder
Ray McElfish
